Just about all of the electricity used in our daily lives passes through multiple transformers between the generating facility and the final destination where it is utilized by various electrical powered devices. In many cases the last transformer used is the pole mounted transformer commonly seen between every few houses upon power poles in a neighborhood. High voltage fuses used to protect these small power transformers are common and preferred where the expense of a circuit breaker is not warranted. These protective devices incorporate high range current-limiting fuses, low range current-limiting fuses, or combination high range and low range current-limiting fuses. Although transformers and fuse assemblies are highly reliable and dependable they are known to be easily taken out by nearby faults or lightning strikes. When this happens the most common result is a blown primary fuse. Conventionally, the fuse is located on the interior of the transformer under oil and is normally permanently connected to the transformer lead by a terminal clamp or similar mechanism, thus forcing a complete emergency transformer replacement in the field and a rebuild in a shop. This means extended outage times for what is a simple blown fuse. Additionally, fuse holders generally comprise many parts which can be unwieldy and costly to assemble, disassemble, and transport and store.
Various examples of attempts to provide over current protection to electrical devices including power transformers and means of mounting and holding such devices include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,996, issued in the name of Book, which describes an electrical distribution apparatus having fused draw-out surge arrester; U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,561, issued in the name of Veverka et al., which describes a transformer overload and fault protection apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,556, issued in the name of de Sedouy et al., which describes a protection system for a three-phase distribution transformer insulated in a liquid dielectric; U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,267, issued in the name of Locht, which describes a fuse holder for distribution transformers; U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,125, issued in the name of Li et al., which describes a combination apparatus of a distribution transformer and switches; U.S. Pat. No. 6,479,780, issued in the name of Virtanen et al., which describes a circuit breaker for disconnecting an electrical apparatus from an electrical network; U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,736, issued in the name of Cotton et al., which describes a fuse housing with rate release control plug; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,839,207, issued in the name of Folliot et al., which describes a protection system for protecting a poly-phase distribution transformer insulated in a liquid dielectric, the system including at least one phase disconnector switch.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which primary fusing on pole-mounted transformers can be easily replaced without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.